A Lagos-based businesswoman, Mrs Mabel Alabijah Hussaini, has instituted a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, senior police officers, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), her estranged husband, and a real estate firm at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The suit, marked FHC/L/CS/1468/2025, accuses the respondents of unlawful arrest, detention, harassment, and extortion stemming from a civil and matrimonial matter.
Hussaini seeks declarations that the respondents' actions breached her constitutional rights to human dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, private and family life, and freedom of movement under the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Court documents reveal that Hussaini married her husband in 2016 under native law and custom, with the union producing an eight-year-old daughter.In November 2024, her husband allegedly provided her with $60,000 to invest in real estate and establish a trust fund for their child.
She claims to have used the funds accordingly, purchasing a property at E18, Citadel Estate, Ogombo Road, Lekki, Lagos, in the child's name and setting up the trust.
The marriage reportedly soured after she discovered her husband had entered into additional marriages in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
He later relocated to the UK and demanded a refund of the money, which she explained was no longer available as it had been invested for their daughter. She alleges he threatened her life upon her refusal.
Her husband subsequently petitioned the police, accusing her of theft. Although initial investigations at Elemoro Police Station in Ibeju-Lekki treated the matter leniently and granted her bail, the case escalated on January 7, 2025, when armed officers from the Force CID Annex in Alagbon arrested her and her young daughter at gunpoint.
Hussaini alleges she was verbally abused, humiliated, and detained for hours in her daughter's presence without opportunity to defend herself.
Officers reportedly demanded N2 million for bail but settled for N500,000 paid via POS.Despite petitions from her lawyers leading to an IGP directive to transfer the case to Zone 2 Command and handle it as a civil/matrimonial issue, charges were briefly filed before being withdrawn by senior authorities recognising its non-criminal nature.
She further claims ongoing police interference, including instructions to the estate developer to withhold property documents, causing severe emotional and psychological trauma to her and her child.
In reliefs sought, Hussaini wants perpetual injunctions restraining further arrests, detention, or harassment; refund of the N500,000; protection for the child's property from sale or interference; and N50 million in damages jointly against the police and her husband.
She also seeks a declaration that police have no constitutional powers to intervene in matrimonial causes or recover debts from civil transactions.
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